Lushevskiy Search 2010

Updated on Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 0:25 by Jeff Lehman

Evgeniy "Eugene" Lushevskiy is an immigrant from Uzbekistan who came to the United States in 1998.

Eugene, 19 years old at the time, was last seen on Sunday October 31, 2004 when he left to go hiking somewhere in the foothills or mountains north of Claremont. A storm front with an unseasonably early snowfall came in that night. He was reported missing to Claremont PD on Tuesday November 2, 2004.   
On Friday November 5, 2004 evidence was discovered that Eugene was dropped off in Mt. Baldy, at the Sierra Hut Trailhead, on the night of October 31st to begin a hike to the summit of Mt. Baldy. The Chino Hills Sheriff’s Station initiated a Search and Rescue mission based upon this information. West Valley Search and Rescue (WVSAR) began a hasty search of the mountain trails that night. The search quickly expanded to a county-wide and then state-wide call for alpine-qualified searchers.

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Rescue Near Baldy, Below Sugarloaf Peak

View Dotti Rescue in a larger map

West Valley SAR received a call early Monday morning for two hikers who had become stuck after an unsuccessful retreat from Sugarloaf Peak. The hikers were located in a drainage about 1200' below the peak, exhausted, and unable to proceed safely. With the help of Sheriff's Aviation the hikers were located, and a team of 3 made their way to the hikers' location. The climb to the hikers was a steep talus slope common to the area, but the true difficulty was the heavy "buck brush" in a 200' swath between drainages. The first team on scene took approximately 2 hours to traverse this patch of brush. Team 2, comprised of members of the Cave & Technical Rescue Team and the Mountain SAR Team scouted a route at first light. It was determined that this team could avoid much of the brush if they climbed to a band of rocks approximately 200' above the stranded hikers, then dropped into the drainage. As it turned out, this was the easier route. After approximately 2 hours of climbing, Team 2 reached the hikers and the two teams began to assess evacuation options.

Not long after Team 2 arrived, the command post was notified that 40-K was inbound to assess a possible helicopter extraction. The slope was rather steep, but the air crew was able to load all passengers via a hover step. 3 trips were required to get everybody back to Cow Canyon Saddle. The hikers were tired, but relatively unharmed.

Rescue Near San Antonio Falls (7/5-6/2010)

The call for a missing hiker on Baldy came in on the evening of July 5. Derek Rice, Greg Umberg, Eric Spaeth, and Dan Carlson, all of West Valley SAR were the first to respond. More resources were required, so the call went to other teams for assistance. Members of Rim SAR and the Cave Team responded. With Derek Rice running operations, Donna Newlin (Rim SAR) and Robert Misiuk (WV SAR) drew a strenuous assignment and made their way up Goode Canyon and over the ridge to the Sierra Hut Trail. Eric Spaeth and Dan Carlson descended San Antonio Canyon while Greg used a searchlight focused up the canyon. Faint cries for help could be heard in the San Antonio Falls area, but the team descending the canyon halted their descent because of the rock fall hazard, and the unknown location of the subject. 40-King was called to fly the area, but they were also unsuccessful at locating the hiker. Another airship was ordered for "first light" and arrived on scene at 0630 hours the following morning.

View Baldy Rescue 7/6/2010 in a larger map

In the morning light, the airship was able to spot the hiker above the fourth set of falls in San Antonio Canyon. 40-King tried, unsuccessfully, to find a one skid LZ, but they were able to contact the subject on the PA to find that he was OK except for an injured leg. Not long after, the 4 Cave Team members arrived at the command post, and were given the most urgent assignment to get into San Antonio Canyon and make contact with the victim.

Our Air Rescue ship was grounded due to fog, so we called LA Air Rescue 5 to see if they could hoist. They were also delayed by the fog, and in the meantime, the Cave team got to within visual and voice distance to the victim just as Air Rescue 5 came on scene to hoist the hiker. The Cave guys made one heck of a try to get to the victim and would have succeeded given another 15min.

After interviewing the subject's wife; a hiker who heard a voice across San Antonio Canyon at 2100 hrs; and another woman who had spoken to three hikers who had actually spoken with subject at the PLS we found that the subject and his wife hiked to the Hut at 1030 hrs and arrived approx. 1230 hrs. The subject wanted to go to Baldy Peakk, but his wife tried to talk him out of it. They had no previous experience. Three hikers told the subject where the trail was and he took off. At approximately 1530 hrs, the three hikers spoke with the subject on the Sierra Hut Trail above the switchbacks as the subject was descending. He didn't know where the trail was and asked them for assistance. Since they were ascending, they told him to wait for other hikers who were descending, and they could help him find his way.

Hiker Survives in Snow Cave Before Rescue

On Sunday, March 7 a hiker got seperated from his partner about noon on the summit of Mt. Baldy in 10 ft visibility and high winds.  He had never been there before, so he was completely unaware of the terrain and area.  He tried several times with his map & compass to make his way down, but would get to a point and not recognize the area and would go back up to the top.  

At 1600 hrs he dug a snow cave for the night.  He heard 40-King but it was clouded in and could not see them. 40-King at first could not search the area between 8,000 and 10,500 ft due to clouds, so we were gearing up for a long search with 10 assignments that needed about 30 to 40 searchers. 40-King tried one more time before the end of their shift, after the summmit briefly cleared of clouds, and saw our subject with his headlamp waving. They picked him up and brought him down to Cow Canyon Saddle at about 2230 hrs, ending the mission on a happy note.  

Our subject was very smart and stayed put, instead of heading down into any direction off the mountain, since he had no idea where he was.  We have had several lost hikers in the past in the same conditions who have actually travelled west and north, going deeper into the wilderness of Fish Fork and Iron Mtn.

West Valley SAR and Cave & Tech Rescue Team Complete MRA Re-Accreditation

 The Cave & Technical Rescue Team and West Valley SAR spent the day Saturday re-accrediting with the Mountain Rescue Association. Each year, accredited teams in the California Region, must complete re-accreditation in one of three disciplines: Search & Tracking, Technical Rope, and Winter/Alpine. This year all teams completed the Search & Tracking exercise.

There are 19 fully-accredited MRA teams in California, so scheduling the tests is an exercise in organization. West Valley SAR and the Cave Team were on the same track. We began the day with an ELT search followed by a patient care scenario at the "crash site". The Cave Team's ELT plot from the day is shown below. For each team there were two evaluators. One evaluator accompanied the team in the field and the other evaluator assessed the command post crew.

View MRA ELT Plot in a larger map

The rest of the morning was spent on a grid search, where teams were scored on their technique and the number of items found.

After a quick lunch our search and tracking exercise began. We were given a bit of information on our missing hiker that included the last known point (LKP). Once we received this information we had to spool up the CP and deploy teams.

View Cave Search Map in a larger map

The Cave Team deployed a team to the LKP to cut for sign and a "hasty team" to quickly search high-probability trails. After these teams entered the field we were provided a shoeprint from our missing subject on a sheet of aluminum foil. This did not photograph well, so we sketched it and made it part of the paperwork for subsequent teams. We were able to email the sketch to field teams about the same time that they came across a possible print. The field team was able to snap a photo with a cell phone, and the CP was able to confirm that the track was, indeed, the missing person's. The direction of travel was established, and further resources were deployed. After nearly 2 hours from our briefing, we located our subject.

Under an awning to avoid the rain, the day ended with our evaluators reviewing our performance and offering suggestions as to our techniques and methods. Evaluators checked for medical techniques, command post protocol, tracking methods, and how field teams and managers responded to unexpected events. In all, it is a comprehensive evaluation, and one of the most beneficial exercises that our team does each year.

Having outside observers evaluate your performance as a team is key to maintaining your team's readiness. My team's proficiency has improved steadily since initiating the MRA accreditation process nearly 10 years ago. I would highly recommend it to other teams. Full accrediation is not a simple matter, but I guarantee that your team will improve as a result. If your team is interested in pursuing MRA accreditation, feel free to contact me at any time with questions.

Missing Snowboarders in Coldwater Canyon (1/24/2010)

 At about 10:00pm on 1/24/10, I was driving to Redlands to stay at Sonny Lawrence's house, anticipating teaching BMC on Saturday.  A callout came over the phone, and I responded to Baldy Fire Station to search for the missing 3 snowboarders.  By the time I arrived, teams were already in the field and it was determined that the three teenagers had dropped into a drainage that funneled into Lytle Creek.  Bob Gattas of West Valley declared that the command post was moving to Fire Station #2 inLytle Creek, we packed up, and headed out. 

View Snowboarders Jan 2010 in a larger map

After regrouping, I was put on a team with John Metzger, John Norman, Dave Bullock, Trevor Walton, and Rico Gallardo.  We drove up the snow covered 4x4 road as far as we could go without chains.  Our assignment was to reach a drainage just over from Cold Water Canyon, where the snowboarders presumably came down.  The team started out on snow shoes at 2:30am from the truck.  We were on and off a 4x4 road for a while, crossed the creek, and eventually ended up on a ridge just above the drainage.  It was steep angle snow shoe traverses and crotch deep snow at times in 18 degree F weather.  The team did well, and we didn't take any real breaks because it was cold if you weren't moving.  Radio commuications were hard at times in our area.  The sun came up and we reached Cold Water Camp about 7:00am.   Then we headed towards the drainage, and sure enough we found snowboard tracks (3 sets), so the trail was hot.  

We were excited, running down the tracked out trail, and had voice contact within 10 min.  We found the 3 snowboarders and checked their conditions.  They were cold, cold feet, wet clothes, and hungry, but doing very well for folks stuck out all night in cold weather.  We changed their socks, got them some hot chocolate, gave them dry jackets and gloves, and they were instantly doing better.  They had built a survival shelter out of fallen tree limbs and insulated the floor with pine needles and such.  They were trying to start a fire when we found them.  We decided to hike them out since getting them moving would keep them warm.  The hike out was a little over 4 miles, but the 3 of them were creative and sat on their boards and sort of scooted down the trail so that they didn't sink in the snow.  We found the transport waiting for us back at the road and all was well. 

Richardson Search: Malibu Creek State Park

Members of West Valley SAR, SB Mountain SAR, Cave Team, and the Dog Team spent Saturday, January 9th searching for Mitrice Richardson. The folks from San Bernardino County were divided into two teams. My team, Team G-16, was tasked with clearing an area off Mulholland Drive. The search area consisted of a few drainages and heavy brush.We further divided into 3 teams to more effectively cover our area.

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Update on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 10:14 by Jeff Lehman

The LA Times is reporting a sighting of Mitrice Richardson in Las Vegas. Read the article

Update on Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 22:20 by Jeff Lehman

The LA Times has reported that remains located in Malibu Canyon are those of Mitrice Richardson.

Baldy Rescue 12/23/2009

A hiker lost her footing and tumbled down much of the Baldy Bowl this evening. West Valley SAR responded for the evacuation down the Sierra Hut Trail. A hoist was attempted by a Los Angeles County helicopter, but the hoist malfunctioned, and a second helicopter was summoned. In the meantime, members of West Valley SAR, Wrightwood SAR, Rim SAR, SB Mountain SAR, and the Cave & Technical Rescue Team responded to assist in the litter carry. The second helicopter arrived on scene and was able to hoist the hiker somewhere along the trail as SAR members continued the litter evacuation.

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On Track in Cucamonga Canyon

The callout for a search for a missing hiker in the Mt. Baldy area came in around 1900, just as we were beginning classroom training on Map & Compass. Everyone packed up and left the station, most to head home for their equipment and return for the rigs. All three vehicles departed the station around 2000 with 5 members. Other members were in route from Station 12, and several were responding POV. Staging was established at Baldy Fire.

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Cave & WV SAR Complete MRA ReCert

Last year West Valley SAR and the Cave Team were unable to complete their technical rope re-certification with the Mountain Rescue Association due to a search on Baldy. The make-up exam was scheduled for a few months later, only to be canceled due to the fires in L.A. County. The third time is the charm.

The day started with a coin toss to determine who was the "host team". The evaluators wanted to run the test like a mutual aid mission. That is, the host team had requested resources, the mutual aid team would work alongside under the host teams command structure. West Valley "won" the toss and became the host team.

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